''Hasan Ali Khan issued passport without police verification''

Patna, Mar 16: The Regional Passport Office here had issued passport to tax evader Hasan Ali Khan in 1997 even before obtaining police verification report, a senior police officer said today.

SSP Alok Kumar told reporters here that Khan was issued a passport by the regional passport office within seven days after the latter had applied for passport on Apr 3, 1997 even before obtaining a police verification report about the veracity of his identity and his address.

The district police had submitted its verification report to the passport office on June 25, 1997, he said.

The police was investigating into the issuance of passport to Khan in such a quick time even as there was no provision for issuance of a ''Tatkal passport'' and even before the mandatory police verification, Kumar said, adding that the police was also looking into the circumstances under which the passport was issued to the tax evader.

Kumar said that the passport to Khan was issued by Regional Passport Officer M N Prasad on Apr 10, 1997 and one Ashok Kumar had received the passport on the tax evader's behalf.

The SSP also questioned the authenticity of various documents submitted by Khan in his application for passport as most of them were not legible which will be sent to forensic laboratory for checking even as the regional passport office has been asked to submit original documents for probe.

He said that the Enforcement Directorate probing the issuance of passport to Khan from Patna, Mumbai and Pune to the concerned passport offices to take legal action against the tax evader in this regard.

However, the Patna regional passport office did not lodge FIR against Khan and only after the ED issued a reminder that the former lodged an FIR against the tax evader.

The police was also probing the reasons for delay by the regional passport office here in lodging a case against Khan despite the ED directive, he said.

PTI